


Midnight Sky

by wowwowwubbzy



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: Still Have Powers, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Badass Katara (Avatar), Badass Suki (Avatar), Badass Toph Beifong, Bending (Avatar), Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), F/F, F/M, M/M, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:54:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26558485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wowwowwubbzy/pseuds/wowwowwubbzy
Summary: "We lost today, but we've never been this close. We tasted victory, and that counts for something."“Can someone tell me what the fuck is going on?!” Toph yelled from the middle row of Sokka’s beat up 2004 off-white Dodge Grand Caravan, nicknamed ‘Appa’.Said van was currently going roughly 80 mph through the downtown of a Fire Nation city that just happened to be between Caldera and the Western Air Temple. Even with a seat belt on, Toph came dangerously close to bumping her head on the roof more than once.After The Day of Black Sun, set in modern day, but still in the Avatar universe.Teo, The Duke, and Haru are elsewhere and seat belts are important.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Sokka/Suki/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 50





	1. Safety First

**Author's Note:**

> If the Avatar universe had a modern setting!  
> Bending is still a thing and the plot is relatively the same, albeit with a LOT of creative liberties.  
> Certain character arcs and relationships are altered, not necessarily because I like them, but because it makes for a good story.  
> Let Toph say fuck 2k20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After The Gaang refuse to let Zuko join them they end up in a car chase with someone familiar.

“Can someone tell me what the fuck is going on?!” Toph yelled from the middle row of Sokka’s beat up 2004 off-white Dodge Grand Caravan, nicknamed ‘Appa’. He bought The Gaang’s primary mode of transportation from a used car salesman named Dock after getting sick of borrowing Gran Gran’s 2001 Buick Century, ‘the mileage on that thing is awful, plus it can only fit four other people! A minivan is where it’s at; the caravan comfortably seats seven, and if suburban moms trust them to get their kids to soccer practice, then that’s good enough for me!’

The dealership (if you could call it that, it was really more of a glorified junkyard), was connected to a bowling alley that was owned and operated by Dock’s brother, Shu (although even Toph knew it was the same guy with a different hat). 

Said van was currently going roughly 80 mph through the downtown of a Fire Nation city that just happened to be between Caldera and the Western Air Temple. Even with a seatbelt on, Toph came dangerously close to bumping her head on the roof more than once.

“We’re being followed, I keep trying to shake them, but just when I think I’ve lost them-“ Sokka had studied a map of the city for hours while planning their backup escape route, but it was becoming more and more difficult to find back roads that didn’t lead to dead ends.

“I’m gonna try to slow them down!” Aang shouted as he rolled down the passenger window and climbed onto the top of the vehicle. Katara bit her lip, obviously worried, but passed Aang his glider staff from the back seat anyway. He grabbed it just as the van rounded a sharp corner, throwing the girls sideways, causing Katara’s seat belt to lock and nearly choke her.

“Well if Sokka learned how to drive we wouldn’t all feel sea sick!” She yelled, unbuckling and re-buckling her seat belt before sticking her head out the window, ignoring Toph’s nails digging into her arm.

“Yeah Snoozles, maybe falling asleep in drivers ed wasn’t such a good idea.” 

“Everyone’s a critic. You can’t even see the road!” 

“I don’t need to see it, I can feel it; and based on my stomach, you need to work on your turns.” 

“Guys shut up, they’re gaining on us!” Katara hushed, trying to get them to focus on the task at hand: getting somewhere safe and getting there alive. 

On the roof, Aang was air bending as well as he could for someone running on 4 hours of sleep and 6 cans of redbull, but the black SUV riding Sokka’s ass wasn't going to budge. Deciding to save his strength, Aang tossed his glider staff to Katara and swung himself back down into the passenger seat, rushing to put his seat belt on. 

“You were just on the roof of a moving vehicle, and now you’re worried about your seat belt?!” Sokka shouted, taking his eyes off the road so Aang could see the exasperated look on his face.

“Safety first!” the other boy grinned, before his face fell and eyes widened at the scene unfolding in front of them: a motorcycle had darted out from a side road into the middle of the street, causing Sokka to slam on the brakes in order to avoid a full-on collision. Aang braced himself against the dashboard as Katara and Toph shrieked from the backseat, both of them having been thrown forward, but stopped from hitting the back of Sokka’s headrest by their seat belts,“See? Better safe than sorry,” Aang groaned. 

“Why are we stopped?” Toph asked, hoping it would mean they were finally somewhere safe, but knowing it was too good to be true. 

“Some crazy cyclist just came out of nowhere!” Sokka complained, preparing to swerve around it, but before he could take his foot off the break, the cyclist took off their helmet. 

“Hello, Zuko here!” 

“Zuko.” Aang’s eyes narrowed as he took off his seat belt, preparing for a fight.

“But if he’s on the bike, then who’s been chasing us for the past half hour?!” Sokka threw up his hands, frustrated. 

“I think we’re about to find out.” Katara pointed out of the rear window of the van; the black SUV was gaining on the parked vehicle, and fast.

“Guess Zuko will have to wait. Talk about objects being closer than they appear,” Sokka muttered, “Hold on!” he yelled as he slammed on the gas while cranking the wheel all the way to the left, making a  _ very _ illegal U-Turn in the middle of the street. The van’s second-hand tires squealed as Katara slid into Toph, who braced herself against the front seats as best she could. Aang reached for the handle on the roof as Sokka straightened out the wheel and stepped on the gas pedal, leaving Zuko in the dust.

“Never do that again!” Toph growled as she punched sokka on the arm for good measure.

“How about a ‘thank you for saving our asses, AGAIN Sokka! You’re so smart and funny and handsome-”

“Sokka-”

“Y’know what Katara? I am sick and tired of not being appreciated around here. Just because I can’t bend doesn’t mean I’m not just as-”

“SOKKA WATCH OUT!” Katara yelled as Aang reached over and pulled the steering wheel sharply towards him, narrowly avoiding a fire blast. 

“Was that Zuko?” Toph asked, worried that she had been wrong about the prince’s change of heart. 

“No, I think it was Combustion Man!” Aang shouted as he managed to haul himself up into a crouching position, balancing on the open window ledge while holding onto the roof of the van. 

“Wait I want to help you, I’m on your side!” A familiar voice yelled from behind the vehicle. Aang turned his head to see Zuko coming up beside them on his motorcycle, trying to say something he couldn’t understand. 

“What?!” 

“I said, I think I need to be the one to teach you firebending!” Before Aang could respond, a blast of fire landed in front of Zuko, cutting him off. The bike came to a screeching halt as its driver parked and hopped down onto the street. Tired of running, Zuko looked around to find where Combustion Man stood on the top of a skyscraper and turned to address him: “Stop! I don’t want you hunting the Avatar anymore! The mission is off, I’m ordering you to stop.” Ignoring Zuko, the assassin proceeded to jump from rooftop to rooftop while attempting to shoot down the van with combustion bending. Acknowledging that the time for talking was over, Zuko got back onto his back and rode full speed down the street to try and divert Combustion Man’s attention by fire bending at him. It almost worked until a stray blast caught his back tire, causing him to spin out. He jumped off the bike and barrel rolled into the street just as the cycle crashed into a pole, practically bending in half, before setting on fire. 

“What was that?!” Sokka asked, looking out the rear view mirror to where Zuko had crashed. 

“I think we just lost our new friend.” Unbuckling her seat belt, Katara managed to stick the upper half of her body out the window to face their pursuer. With Toph holding her legs steady, Katara began bending water out of her pouch and forming it into icicles, sending them spiraling at their attacker to no avail. Combustion Man blocked the ice with his metal arm and sent another flame straight for her. Ducking back into the van, Katara put her seat belt back on. “I can’t stick my head out to waterbend at him without getting blown up and I can’t exactly do it from inside the van.” 

“I know how we can attack from inside the van!” Sokka exclaimed while taking out his boomerang. Rolling down the window and adjusting his mirrors, Sokka calculated how to get the perfect shot at the combustion bender’s head, “All right buddy, don’t fail me now!” He yelled as he threw the boomerang out the window. Much to the rest of The Gaang’s surprise, the boomerang flew straight at Combustion Man’s head, hitting him in the third eye and knocking him to the ground before returning to Sokka’s outstretched hand.“Yeah boomerang!” Sokka looked out the window to see the assassin rising to his feet, still undefeated. “Awww, boomerang.” 

However, Combustion Man stumbled while getting back up, clearly dizzy. On his next attempt to combustion bend at the van, nothing happened; it was as though the fire could not escape his third eye. Because of this, he exploded from the inside out, causing the buildings surrounding him to cave in and nearly crush Zuko, who was still recovering from his wipe out. 

“Now that’s what I call spontaneous combustion!” Sokka shouted as the van sped down the street away from the explosion.

Finally getting to his feet, Zuko managed to catch up to the vehicle and reached out his hand, signalling for Aang to grab it and pull him up as the buildings fell apart around them.

“Thanks.” Zuko huffed, out of breath from sprinting, but Aang shook his head and held out his hand to stop Zuko from continuing,

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we’re the ones that should be thanking  _ you _ .” 

“Hey what about me? I did the boomerang thing!” Sokka interjected, sticking his head out the window while simultaneously keeping his eyes on the road. 

“Yeah thanks Sokka, you did a great job of not getting us killed, now can you please find a safe place for us to continue not getting killed?” Katara scoffed, crawling overtop of the centre console seemingly to make room for their new passenger, although everyone knew she just wanted to get away from Zuko. Toph scooted over from the middle into Katara’s empty seat as Sokka rolled down the rear passenger window so the two boys could climb back into the van. Aang slid seamlessly into the middle seat while Zuko clambered in after him. Finally settled, the prince observed the other teenagers dutifully putting on their seat belts before buckling his own in turn.

“Not used to seat belts huh? Katara threatens us if we don’t put ours as soon as we get into the car.” Toph asked, not bothering to turn her head to look at Zuko which confused him even more than her actual question. “Relax, I noticed that you hesitated to put yours on, I’m not a mind reader,” she paused, thinking, “that would be cool though.”

“I haven’t ridden in a car since I stopped travelling with my crew...then I was on foot for awhile before I found that motorcycle.” Zuko brooded, mourning the loss of his sole form of transportation for the past few months.

“Where did you get that thing anyway?” Sokka asked, speeding up to merge onto the highway from the on-ramp. In the backseat, Zuko thought back to his time in the Earth Kingdom when he and Uncle went their separate ways; the thought of the entire situation made him shudder. Although the firebender was unaware of Toph’s ability to sense when someone was lying, Zuko ultimately decided to tell the truth.

“I stole it.” He confessed, waiting for the backlash from his former enemies. Instead of scolding him, Sokka shrugged and Katara turned towards the window in her seat. Toph just nodded, knowingly,

“Be gay do crime.”

“Yeah I mean Katara stole that water bending scroll!” Aang added, a little too enthusiastically.

“Aang!” She hissed, glaring at the airbender through the rear view mirror. 

“Yeesh, sorry I asked.” Sokka muttered as he turned up the radio. 

After about an hour of listening to Aang and Sokka argue over who deserved aux privileges, ‘I drove AND hit him with my boomerang, what did YOU do?’ Zuko finally decided what he wanted to say to his new companions. Clearing his throat, he looked over to Aang, who asked Sokka to turn the music down, which he did with little complaint.

“Can I start over? Yesterday didn’t exactly go as planned.”

“Of course.” Aang replied and the van went silent. Sokka stayed focused on the road, his eyes flickering up to the rearview mirror every so often and Katara finally turned around in her seat, if only to glare directly at Zuko instead of at his reflection. 

“First of all, I want to apologize for making your lives a living hell. I thought it was my destiny to capture Aang, and by doing so I’d regain my honor: that my father could give it back to me, but I learned the hard way that honor is something you earn for yourself.” He paused to think, before continuing: “If Uncle taught me anything during the past three years, it’s that no one has the power to decide what your destiny is except you.” Feeling a wave of confidence wash over him, Zuko sat up in his seat and looked at each of the teenagers in turn. “As the first step in regaining my honor and following my true destiny, I’d like to join you in ending this war by teaching Aang firebending.” At that all eyes looked to Aang, awaiting his reply. Mulling it over, Aang finally broke his silence:

“I think you are supposed to join us; Katara is the one who found me in the iceberg, I had a vision of Toph in the swamp and now fate has led me to you...I’d like you to teach me how to firebend.” Zuko’s eyes widened with surprise at Aang’s response.

“Thank you. I’m so happy that you’ve accepted me into your group.”

“Not so fast, I still have to ask my friends if it’s okay with them first. Toph, what do you think?”

“Considering your vast options of firebending teachers, I’d say he’s more than qualified for the job.” She laughed.

“Sokka?” Their self-designated driver shrugged:

“Hey, all I want is to defeat the Fire Lord. If you think this is the way to do it, then, I'm all for it.”

“Katara, I know you aren’t exactly Zuko’s biggest fan,” at that, Katara shot him a look. “...which is why I value your opinion the most.” 

“Yeah, that’s why.” Toph snorted under her breath as Katara locked eyes with Aang, practically staring into his soul.

“You think he’s destined to help us?” She asked, breaking eye contact to look Zuko up and down.

“I do.”

“...Then I’ll go with what you think is right.” The waterbender gave Aang a soft smile and Toph swore she could feel him melt beside her.

“I won’t let you down,” Zuko looked out the window, thinking of everything that led him to this moment, “I promise.”


	2. (no) Vacancy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Gaang finally finds a place to crash for the night.  
> Katara talks to Aang about her apprehension towards Zuko.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey I'm really glad you're here!  
> Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoy and have a great day.  
> <3

The teens drove through the rest of the night in silence before coming to a small village that Sokka had marked as ‘possible rest stop?’ on their map. (He didn’t trust GPS; something about ‘The Fire Nation using it to track their every move.’) Sokka reached over and shook his sleeping sister awake.

“Look, there’s a motel up ahead that I saw on the map. I’m gonna check if they have any vacancies; if they do then we’ll stop there for the night.” He whispered to Katara who nodded, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. The van pulled off the highway and into the parking lot of a rough looking Motel 6. Sokka got out of the van and locked the doors, leaving his sister to keep watch while the rest of their friends slept in the backseat. By the time Sokka returned with their room key, Aang and Zuko were awake, but Toph remained asleep curled up against the van door. While the older teens began unloading the gear from the trunk, Aang was tasked with getting Toph to move. He gently shook the girl’s arm, but was met with a soft ‘five more minutes.’

“Toph we have to go inside now… Unless you’d rather Sokka carry you in?” 

“That’d be nice.” Toph mumbled sleepily, still not fully awake.

“Uhhh are you sure?” Aang furrowed his brow, feeling like he overheard something he shouldn’t have. Finally, Toph jolted awake and landed a hit to Aang’s arm.

“If you say anything I will not hesitate to bury you in a landslide.” 

“My lips are sealed.” Aang chuckled as Katara slid open the door.

“Ready?” 

“To go back to sleep? Absolutely.” Toph grabbed the older girl’s outstretched arm and the group followed Sokka up a metal staircase that led to the upper set of rooms overlooking the parking lot.

“Here we are, room twelve,” Sokka unlocked the door revealing two twin beds and a bathroom, plus a microwave, fridge, and TV. “Home sweet home!”

As the boys dragged their stuff into the room, Toph flopped down on the bed closest to the door while Katara went to take a shower. Once they finished unpacking, Sokka turned to Zuko, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “So uhh, there are only two beds…”

“I can sleep on the floor.” 

“I thought there would be a pullout couch or something! The lady at the front desk said-”

“It’s fine Sokka.”

“O-okay well you can stack our bed rolls, they’re actually really comfortable.”

“Thank you.” Zuko said finally as he began to set up on the floor until Aang’s smiling face appeared in front of him. The airbender was laying on the bed near the bathroom with his head hanging over the side.

“I’ll sleep on the floor Zuko!” 

“Uhh are you sure Aang?” Sokka asked, wary of changing their sleeping arrangement after so long.

“Yeah, it’s actually really good for your back!”

“You don’t have to do that.” Zuko stood, having finished stacking the mats on the floor between the two beds.

“If you three don’t shut up I’m going to make you!” Toph shouted, though it was muffled due to her being face down on the bed. She threw a pillow in the boys’ general direction, but it missed and landed at Sokka’s feet, who picked it up and pressed it into Zuko’s chest as he walked past him.

“I don’t care who I’m snuggling with, but I am not sacrificing a precious night in a real bed!” Sokka said as he hopped onto the bed next to Aang. “Katara hurry up I gotta pee!”

That left it down to a game of Earth Fire Air Water. Aang ended up winning, which meant he got to pick who slept where.

“Ha! I get to sleep on the floor!”

“You win and you pick to sleep on the floor?” Sokka asked through a mouthful of stale Cheetos that he bought from the vending machine in the lobby earlier.

“That was the deal!” 

“Alright Zuko get ready to be the little spoon.” Sokka sighed as he patted the pillow next to him on the bed.

“Is it too late for a rematch?” Zuko asked Aang, who shook his head and laughed.

“Aang can I talk to you outside for a second?” Katara emerged from the bathroom in her pyjamas with a towel wrapped around her hair. Before Aang could even open his mouth, Sokka hopped off the bed and ran to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. As Katara put her things away in her duffle bag, Aang got up and opened the door, gesturing outside.

“Ladies first!” He said as he followed Katara outside onto the balcony that doubled as a walkway between the rooms. Katara leaned on the railing and sighed deeply, looking out over the parking lot. Aang could tell her thoughts were miles away, maybe even as far as the South Pole. He gave her a few minutes to collect herself before breaking the silence: “What did you want to talk about?” As if a trance had been broken, Katara shook her head and turned to Aang, remembering that she wasn't alone.

“Oh right,” she frowned, “well I just wanted to talk about what happened today.”

“You’ll have to be a little more specific, our days aren’t exactly boring.” Aang cocked an eyebrow, which made Katara giggle. Her eyes closed when she laughed and Aang watched the waterbender’s shoulders relax and face soften, which made his heart beat even faster than it already was, (hearing your crush say ‘I need to talk to you outside’ is very nerve wracking).

“I meant the whole worst-enemy-joining-our-group thing?” Katara lowered her voice and looked around, worrying about being overheard. 

“Oh. Right. Zuko…” Aang rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, almost disappointed. “What about him exactly?”

“I just don’t think I can trust him after what happened in Ba Sing Se. I fully support your decision, but…” She trailed off.

“It’s okay Katara you don’t have to explain yourself to me, I get it. I was wary at first too, but I realized he’s the only chance I have at actually learning firebending.” Aang didn’t want to make his waterbending teacher uncomfortable, but he also had to stand firm in his decision and trust his gut.

“I know that, I just-” Katara looked at the ground, unable to find the right words.

“Hey, I’m not asking you to trust him or even be his friend, but I am asking you to trust me. I have the same feeling that I did in the swamp and I can’t ignore it.” Aang reached over and set his hand on Katara’s arm, consoling her.

“Okay. Okay, yes I trust you and I’m sorry for being paranoid.” She looked at him with the same soft smile as when she agreed to let Zuko join, which had the same affect on Aang as before.

“Breaking someone’s trust is one of the worst betrayals, but do you think you could at least try to be civil towards him? I think you hating him is really bringing him down.” Aang laughed.

“Woah woah woah, I never said I  _ hated _ him.” Katara clarified, smirking.

“Sorry, ‘strongly disliking’ him.” Aang replied, using air quotes for emphasis.

“Okay I get it.” The waterbender rolled her eyes, “I’ll try to be more civil, but only for you.”

“Thank you Katara I really appreciate it.” The airbender smiled, feeling gratified. 

“Mhm.” Yawning, Katara shivered. “It’s getting kind of cold...Too bad Zuko hasn’t taught you anything yet, otherwise I would’ve asked you to use your fire breath to keep me warm…” Katara said sauvely as she pushed herself off the railing and went back inside, leaving Aang blushing like mad.

“I should’ve let Zuko sleep on the floor.” He muttered as he sulked over to the door and let himself inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So much flirting!! I love it.
> 
> Sorry it's a bit shorter than the first one, it's more of an in-between chapter. (Still had a lot of fun writing it though.)
> 
> P.S. Thank you so much for all the love!! I was not expecting so many hits. You've inspired me to continue working on this fic. :)  
> <3


	3. Something Borrowed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey I'm really glad you're here.  
> Zukka nation, this one's for you.  
> (No smut.)  
> Hope you enjoy!

Zuko awoke to the sun peeking through the curtains, illuminating the many dust particles floating around the room. Although the motel bed was nowhere near as comfortable as his king sized bed in the palace, Zuko had one of the most restful nights since his mother left. Not wanting to wake anyone, Zuko planned his next movements meticulously. It was simple: untangle himself from Sokka’s limbs, get up without making any noise and quietly have a shower.  _ Untangle myself from-  _ Zuko’s eyes shot open as he remembered what happened last night. 

While Katara and Aang went outside and Sokka used the washroom, Zuko sat on the edge of the bed, not knowing what to do with himself. Sokka finally emerged, freshly showered and  _ very  _ shirtless. After putting his toiletries in his own bag, he motioned for Zuko to get up off the bed. Confused, Zuko stood and moved towards the mats on the floor.

“No that’s not what I meant!” Sokka whisper-yelled as to not wake Toph, who was snoring noisily across the room. “I’m just untucking the sheets. You’d think this is a Fire Nation prison with how trapped you feel under those covers.” Sokka laughed then coughed awkwardly when he saw the firebender’s face. “Oh sorry I just meant-”

“A more realistic comparison would be the seat belts in Appa. When those things lock you aren’t going anywhere.” Zuko responded thoughtfully in an attempt to play along. Sokka was taken aback at this new side of Zuko, but smiled as he climbed under the freshly un-tucked covers on the side closest to the wall; he figured Zuko would sleep on his left side in order to hear, and probably wouldn’t want to sleep face-to-face with him either. But rather than climbing into bed after Sokka, Zuko turned and went into the bathroom instead. After a few minutes, Sokka realized that their newest member probably didn’t have a change of clothes. He got back out of bed and rummaged through his bag for an extra pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, then creeped over and quietly knocked on the bathroom door; Zuko answered a few moments later, looking disgruntled. 

“Sorry I just thought you might want to change into something more comfortable.” The firebender’s eyes widened and Sokka mentally kicked himself. “Err I mean…you can borrow these if you want to.” Sokka said awkwardly as he held out the clothes which Zuko took, equally as awkward. Not knowing how to proceed, Sokka turned on his heels and went back to bed, leaving Zuko to change. After a few minutes of Sokka going over the exchange in his head,  _ Why the fuck did I say that?  _ he heard the door open and looked to see Katara climb into her own bed beside Toph. A few seconds passed before Aang followed and locked the door behind him, which confused Sokka slightly, but he ultimately decided not to question it. The airbender took off his top and settled on the makeshift bed, snuggling under the extra blanket they found in the closet before drifting off to sleep.

By the time Zuko came out of the bathroom, everyone was asleep except for Sokka, whose own mind had been keeping him awake until ungodly hours of the night ever since the failed invasion.  _ She gave up on you. _ Azula’s words played in his head on a loop, but his self-deprecation session was interrupted by the feeling of someone else slowly climbing into bed next to him.

“Thanks for the clothes.” Zuko whispered, making Sokka smile. For the first time in a while, neither of the boys had any trouble falling asleep.

Zuko ran a hand down his face, remembering what Sokka said about cuddling.  _ He probably does this with Aang too.  _ Zuko almost didn’t want to convince himself that Sokka’s physical affection wasn’t personal, but forced those feelings deep down as he had the ones for Jet.  _ I should probably go shower before everyone wakes up.  _ He decided and managed to get away from Sokka’s death grip without the warrior stirring. Zuko shut the bathroom door quietly and was relieved to find his clothes still under the sink where he left them. Considering all he brought was his dao swords, he didn’t exactly have anywhere to store his stuff.  _ Maybe Katara had an extra bag? That sounds like something she’d think of. But I can’t ask her...I’ll just talk to Aaang instead.  _ Zuko contemplated as he stripped off his borrowed clothing and got into the shower, trying to come up with the best way to teach Aang how to firebend. Considering the fact that the Avatar burned Katara the first time he tried, it would make sense for him to still be hesitant. Zuko winced as the image of Iroh begging him to bend again after his banishment popped into his head.  _ We’ll start with the basics. _

After he finished getting dressed, Zuko was unsure as to what to do with Sokka’s clothes. The easiest thing would be to leave them in the bathroom and wait for someone else to find them. (He could basically hear Katara lecturing Sokka about picking up after himself.) But what if Sokka blamed Zuko? He couldn’t risk giving Katara another reason to hate him. No, he’d just have to either give it back to Sokka directly or leave it with his stuff. 

“Are you done? I gotta pee!” Sokka yelled from the other side of the bathroom door. Zuko opened it to find Sokka’s fist in the air, mid knock. 

“Oh sorry I didn’t realize…” 

“Uh, here.” Zuko held out the other boy’s borrowed clothes, practically recreating their exchange from the night before. Except instead of taking them awkwardly as Zuko had, Sokka’s features softened and gave his enemy-turned-ally a soft smile, reaching out to pat Zuko’s hand.

“You hang onto them for now.” The interaction caused Zuko to short-circuit, and Sokka had to push past him to get to the toilet. “Sorry buddy I really gotta go.” He mumbled as Zuko backed up, the door slamming in his face. Luckily no one else was there to witness Zuko fit of social awkwardness; the others were down at the lobby grabbing the continental breakfast that the motel offered between 6 and 8 AM. 

Zuko sat down on the bed, once again having no idea what to do with himself. Should he go down and join the others for breakfast or wait for Sokka? Before he could make a decision, the bathroom door opened and Sokka walked out, wiping his hands on his pants. 

“Katara used all the towels.” He muttered, then clapped his hands together. “Oh good you waited! Ready? I went down there already, but I never say no to seconds!” 

“Actually I’m not very hungry.” Eating this early always made Zuko feel sick.

“Huh. Well I’m sure Katara will sneak an apple or something into her bag for later…” Sokka faltered, not really knowing where he and Zuko stood at the moment. Maybe the firebender didn’t like him at all and just wanted him gone. Then again, he didn’t think Katara would be too happy about Zuko being left alone in their room with all their stuff. 

“Wanna watch TV?”

The boys were sitting watching  _ Wipeout  _ when Aang, Katara, and Toph returned from breakfast. Aang bounced over and sat down at the foot of the bed. 

“Do they allow benders on this show? He asked, fixating on the tiny TV screen.

“Uh hate to break it to you Aang, but I’m pretty sure they stopped filming this show years ago.” Sokka replied, equally as interested.

“Darn, I never even had a chance.” Aang said, downcast for a moment before turning around to face Zuko. “Ready?”

“I guess so.” Zuko stood and the two boys headed down to the outdoor pool area to begin Aang’s firebending training. 

“They’re going to the pool...to firebend?” Toph asked Katara, who was gathering everyone’s laundry. 

“Well it’s an outdoor pool so there are walls around, which makes it more private than the parking lot.” The waterbender explained as she set down the bag of clothing in order to open the door, then held it there with her back as she picked up the load. “You guys can go down and watch, I’ll be in the laundry room reading.”  
“Do you have enough change?” Sokka asked, emptying his pockets, which were full of coins, bottle caps, buttons, acorns, and other miscellaneous items. “Man I really need to stop picking up every shiny thing I see on the ground.” 

“I’ll be fine, thanks Sokka.” And with that, Katara left, allowing the door to close behind her.

“Want to go down and watch Aang get his ass kicked?” Toph asked as soon as she heard the lock click.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in uploading! I had a bit of writer's block trying to finish this so I decided to post what I had as a filler chapter.  
> Thank you so much for reading!  
> Have a great day!  
> <3


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